Beverage bottles are conventionally formed with a flange or shoulder that projects out from the neck. One type of carrier that has been designed to support such bottles in a simple economical manner employs a support panel containing bottle neck openings which are surrounded by tabs arranged in so-called starburst fashion. When the panel is pushed down over bottles aligned with the neck openings, the tabs are pivoted up so that their edges engage the underside of the bottle shoulders. A handle, usually in the form of finger holes in the panel, enables a person to grasp and lift the carrier and its supported bottles.
Because the entire weight of the bottles is supported by the neck opening tabs, they are of critical importance. If one or more of them are torn or missing, a significant portion of the circumference of the bottle flange will not be supported. The lifting stresses are then concentrated in the remaining tabs, and at times can be so great as to cause them to fail. Failure of a tab results in the lifting stresses being distributed more unevenly throughout the carrier support panel, increasing the chances of carrier failure.
Various means have been suggested to reinforce the support panel, including the use of additional plies of material to protect against tearing. Although such measures provide additional protection against tearing of the panel, particularly in the handle area, the risk of failure due to missing or defective starburst support tabs is still a threat.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a bottle support carrier which retains the simplicity and economy of the basic support tab design, but protects against the problems caused by missing or defective tabs.